Trident Sues HP Over Loss of Lucrative U.S. Navy Contract Awarded to Xerox

The saga of a contract to provide the U.S. Navy with printers and copier/MFPs continues, this time with the Pennsylvania procurement contractor, Trident Engineering & Procurement, suing HP Inc. for $510 million.

The story began last year when the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency awarded Trident, an HP supplier, a massive $194 million contract to supply HP A3 and A4 printers and MFPs to U.S. military ships, including U.S. Navy, Military Sealift Command, Fleet Marine Forces, and Coast Guard ships. However, Xerox protested the contract, arguing that the bidding process had not been conducted fairly. Despite first losing its appeal, in March 2022, the DLA awarded the contract to Xerox.

Xerox had argued that, although Trident’s proposal claimed to be offering all HP products, two classes of the devices Trident offered are actually manufactured by Canon, a Japanese company (U.S. military policy favors purchasing from U.S. companies).  Xerox therefore maintained that the DLA should have rejected Trident’s proposal for this reason. In contrast, HP had said that the two classes of devices were in current production by HP, and would remain in production for six months after the contract was awarded.

Trident sued HP in Pennsylvania Eastern District Court alleging fraudulent conduct, accusing HP of changing its statement about whether printers and MFPs met government specifications. Trident is seeking $510 million in damages.

More Resources

• March 2022: Xerox Awarded U.S. Defense Contract
• January 2022: Xerox Protests Loss of Massive U.S. Defense Contract to HP Supplier